"The Ultimate Fighter 7 " episode No. 10 recap

After last week’s first two quarterfinal fights, which included Jesse Taylor’s decision victory over Dante Rivera and Amir Sadollah’s second-round submission of Matt Brown, we get the final two quarterfinal fights: MMAjunkie.com blogger C.B. Dollaway vs. Cale Yarbrough, and Dan Cramer vs. Tim Credeur.

The episode begins with the aftermath of the Matt vs. Amir fight. As expected, everyone loved the fight, including Dana White.

After the fight, Jeremy May tells Quinton Jackson that he wants a rematch with Matt at the finale. And, of course, he does it with Matt still trying to calm down and recover from his fight Amir.

The timing of the challenge annoys Matt.

“I kicked his [expletive] nose and broke his nose,” Matt says. “I don’t know what he thinks is going to happen in a rematch.”

Back at the house, Matt tells Jesse about Jeremy’s wishes for a rematch. As expected, he’s baffled.

“He will not be coming back to the UFC,” Jesse says. “If that guy is invited back to the UFC, I’ll [expletive] in my hands and put it on my face because that’s how bad it is.”

Like so many others in the house, Jesse then explains why he, too, can’t stand Jeremy. As Jeremy comes walking into the kitchen, Jesse continues unleashing a diatribe.

Jeremy doesn’t take too kindly to the verbal assault, and as he stands there staring at his attacker, he doesn’t say a word.

However, after finding Gerald Harris (who knew he was still in the house?) in the dining room, Jeremy tells him that he’s going to seriously mess with Jesse. Gerald tells him he can’t put his hands on Jesse, but Jeremy says he’ll just cover up while the guy hits him so he has to go home.

Later that night, Jeremy gets some beer muscles and confronts Jesse. After calling Jesse a “bitch,” Jeremy does, in fact, get under his skin.

After an exchange of insults and saying something about Jews, Jesse stands up and kicks Jeremy. It’s not a dangerous kick — nothing like you’d see in a real fight — and barely connects to the knee. Jesse’s held back and calmed down by his roommates before the confrontation escalates any further.

“Jeremy May is an idiot,” Mike Dolce says. “A freakin’ idiot.”

When Jeremy tries finally to apologize, Jesse barely looks up from his card game and essentially blows him off.

The next day at weigh-ins, Dan and Tim make weight. There’s a lot of mutual respect between the two fighters and none of the trash-talking we’ve grown used to. Each is confident of victory.

Before long it’s fight time as Tim (10-2) meets Dan (3-0).

After a touch of the gloves, the fighters trade some sloppy punches before Tim checks a body kick and pushes Dan into the fence. Dan maneuvers for the trip-takedown and powers his way to the top position and sidemount. He follows with some punches and elbows as Tim stays busy looking for submissions. As Tim gets back to his feet, though, Dan tags him with some well-placed punches and then continues the assault, chasing and battering his opponent with nearly a dozen big shots that look to have staggered him. After another trip takedown, Dan lands in full mount but can’t land a single punch before Tim bucks free and works from inside his opponent’s guard. Tim easily powers into sidemount, but Dan muscles his way to his feet. He again scores the trip takedown, but Tim secures a leg from below and works for the submission. Tim torques the heel-hook and forces the tap-out from Dan. What a turn of events.

It was all Dan up until the submission saved Tim. That fight’s going to haunt him for a long time to come.

Likewise, Tim is also disappointed with the performance but is thankful for the victory.

Dan was my darkhorse candidate this season, so here’s hoping the performance will earn him an invitation to the finale. Like Tim predicted, 16-year-old girls all over the country were probably crying for that “prettiest” fighter on the cast suffered a loss. But no doubt about it: the guy proved he’s one hell of a fighter.

Anyway, back at the house, the attention turns to C.B. vs. Cale, and there’s no love lost between these two. C.B. then makes fun of Cale for branding himself with a big “C” on his arm.

As C.B. works out with Team Rampage, he says Cale is simply a street brawler with stand-up and little else. Coach Quinton Jackson reminds C.B. that Cale asked for everyone but C.B. when they were determining quarterfinal matchups and that he should it use it as a confidence-builder.

At a Team Forrest training session, Cale says he thinks C.B. is a little over-hyped and that he found some holes in his striking. Forrest Griffin calls it an old-fashioned grudge match and calls C.B. an “arrogant prick.”

In order to let the guys blow off some steam, Dana has arranged for all the guys to race go-carts. It’s been five weeks in the house with little entertainment, so the guys cut loose. Rampage emerges victorious, and the energy continues back at the house. Fueled by alcohol, the seasonal house destruction begins.

“You trying staying in a house with 15 other cagefighters and try not to break stuff,” Matthew Riddle says.

C.B. says he got a lot of aggression out and is ready for a fight.

The next day, it’s back to the gym for the fight. We’ve got C.B. (6-0) vs. Cale (0-0).

After a touch of the gloves, the fighters trade some punches and body kicks before C.B. uses a punch to set up a double-leg takedown. C.B. lands in half-guard and then works for and secures the crucifix position to deliver some elbows. Cale tries to roll free, but C.B. continues the assault with elbows to the head and body. C.B. then hops into full mount, but Cale initially ties him up to avoid damage. C.B. stays patient and then rains down a barrage of full-power elbow shots, and when Cale rolls over, he unleashes a flurry of punches. Once Cale’s back in exposed, C.B. sinks in his hooks and works for the rear-naked choke. No dice at first, but C.B. continues throwing a flurry of punches to the face, which prompts Herb Dean to warn Cale to fight back. After a half-dozen warnings, he finally does step in to stop it, and C.B. gets the TKO victory.

Cale calls it a good fight and says he was outclassed. He’s understandingly disappointed.

Dana says Rampage is probably confident that he can ride C.B. all the way to the finals.

But first will be the semifinals where C.B. is joined by Tim, Amir and Jesse.

Back at the Team Forrest locker room, Forrest continues talking about how much he doesn’t like C.B. As Forrest says, “There’s nothing worse than a guy who talks [expletive] and can back it up. Right now, that’s exactly what he’s doing.”

Team Forrest then talks strategy for the next round, and he wants to know who will fight C.B. Jesse volunteers — and Forrest says he’s probably the best person to do it. Forrest says he doesn’t even care if Jesse simply lies on top of him to grind out the decision victory.

Later, back at the gym, the semifinalists are assembled to pick the matchups. However, Rampage is nowhere to be found, but they begin the meeting without him. Forrest and Dana enter the office, and Forrest immediately campaigns for the C.B. vs. Jesse fight.

C.B. is called in first, and he says he wants Tim. Tim, though, wants Amir. Jesse says he wants C.B., but when Dana asks which road will be the easiest to the finals, he admits Amir would be an easier fight.

After the fighters leave, Dana asks Forrest which fighter he thinks is the best. He admits that it’s probably C.B. As for a second-best, Forrest isn’t sure.

After the meeting, Rampage finally shows up. His excuse for being late? He was up late watching movies. No biggie, though. Dana assembles the troops, and he says Jesse will take on Tim. So, of course, C.B. gets Amir. Team Forrest isn’t exactly thrilled. C.B., too, says he doesn’t like the match-up since Amir is probably his toughest test.

Forrest humorously complains that all his brown-nosing didn’t pay off.

After a quick peak of next week — Rampage and Forrest square off on the basketball court for the traditional coaches’ challenge — this episode is in the books.

See ya next week.

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Don’t forget about tomorrow’s “Ten TUF Questions” feature here at MMAjunkie.com. We were only able to secure one of the two fighters, so if you have a question for Dan Cramer, leave it the comments section below. We’ll use the best ones for tomorrow’s interviews. Also, don’t forget to check out the MMAjunkie.com blogs from Luke Zachrich and C.B. Dollaway. They’ll be posted on Thursday.

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